Saturday, August 28, 2010

Saudi Arabia: 24 Nails Mysteriously Appear Inside Indonesian Maid's Body, Which Confirms Ground Zero Imam's Assertion That America Sucks

Migrant Rights reports:

Human Rights Watch has called on a Saudi court to reverse a decision to drop charges against a couple who severely beat their Indonesian maid.

The judge awarded a mere $670 compensation to Nour Miyati, who was tied up by her employers and left in a cellar for a month in 2005. The 25 year old woman was left without food and contracted gangrene as result of her ordeal.

The woman who employed her was initially sentenced to 35 lashes, but later had her sentence overturned. Her male employer was not charged with any crime.

According to Human Rights Watch, the ruling "sends a dangerous message to Saudi employers that they can beat domestic workers with impunity and that victims have little hope of justice."

This comes on the heels of word that an Indonesian servant was tortured by another Saudi couple.

A Sri Lankan housemaid with 24 nails embedded in her body after allegedly being tortured by her employer is to undergo surgery on Friday, her doctors said.

L. T. Ariyawathi, 49, said her employer in Saudi Arabia inflicted the injuries on her as a punishment.

She flew back to Sri Lanka last week and was admitted to Kamburupitiya hospital in the island's south, hospital director Prabath Gajadeera told AFP on Thursday.

"She was brought in complaining that her Saudi employer drove nails into her body, and X-rays showed that there were 24 nails and a needle," Gajadeera said. "There is one nail on the forehead, just under the skin."

The nails were up to two inches (five centimetres) long and were mostly beneath the skin of Ariyawathi's hands, feet and legs.

Almost exactly a year ago, reports surfaced that another maid had been tortured to death in Saudi Arabia.

A 28-year-old maid described only as “Asian” was beaten to death by her sponsor and his wife last Friday, a local daily reported on Monday... Police confirmed reports the maid was brought to a local hospital in Jubail dead with multiple wounds and burns to her body and head. Police said an iron rod was used to beat and burn the maid.

Police have arrested the 36-year-old Saudi and his 29-year-old wife... The couple claimed that they had to resort to the beatings because of the maid’s attitude. The husband justified his behavior saying the maid repeatedly failed to carry out his orders and also neglected work inside the house.

The husband, during the interrogation, cast doubts about the maid’s character, claiming that she did “indecent” things inside the house. He said he took the iron to the maid’s body after throwing water on her.

According to Migrant Rights, this kind of outrageous abuse is rampant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

* * *

But remember, kids: according to the Ground Zero Mosque's Imam Rauf, it's America that's screwed up.


Legacy Media Coverage Roundup of Restoring Honor Rally -- All Race-Baiting, All the Time

NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard says that this picture is "guaranteed to drive the media crazy."

You ain't kidding, Noel.

The New York Times' Race-Baiter-in-Chief (Bob Herbert) decries the loss of civility in "America Is Better Than This":
For all of his celebrity, Mr. Beck is an ignorant, divisive, pathetic figure... Beck is a provocateur who likes to play with matches in the tinderbox of racial and ethnic confrontation. He seems oblivious to the real danger of his execrable behavior.

There's a loss of civility all right, and it comes from the race-baiters like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Bob Herbert. Bob forgot to mention MLK's niece, who spoke at the event, or conservatives' undying love and support of Lt. Col. Allan West and Marco Rubio. You see, Bob: we don't give a damn about race, religion, creed or skin pigmentation. We care about our nation. Our children. The Constitution. And its limits on government, not man. But you're an ideologue, Herb, so we don't expect you could possibly understand these difficult concepts.

• CNN leads with "NAACP president slams Glenn Beck at 'Reclaim the Dream' rally":
NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, speaking at the "Reclaim the Dream" rally Saturday, castigated the message of the Glenn Beck rally across town in Washington.

Race-baiting is a booming business for the likes of the once proud NAACP. That's why they market the status quo. Consider their assertion: the country elected a black president, yet the majority of Americans are somehow racists? The NAACP believes that school choice is evil and and that welfare is great for the urban poor. But the Democrats' Ponzi schemes are collapsing as we speak. And once the urban poor realize they've been sold a bill of goods by the Democrat Party, well, it ain't gonna be pretty.

• ABC's sarcastic subhead reads "Glenn Beck's 'Restoring Honor' Rally to Celebrate Martin Luther King"
...Sharpton and several other African American leaders have blasted Beck and the conservative right for distorting the legacy of the civil rights movement.

"What they are trying to do is divert the nation from the agenda of Martin Luther King to their agenda, and I think that's hijacking his legacy," said Rev. Carlton W. Veazey, minister of the National Baptist Convention and president of Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice...

"What they have said all the time, have been trying to divide people, trying to exclude people," Veazey said. "For him to lead a rally with that kind of attitude taints the whole affair."

Really? Far as I can tell, the only people trying to divide folks are the separatist front groups: the NAACP, La Raza, and their malevolent ilk.

• The Associated Press is segmenting the crowd into various races (why not gender or religion?).
Conservative commentator Glenn Beck and tea party champion Sarah Palin appealed Saturday to a vast, predominantly white crowd on the National Mall to help restore traditional American values and honor Martin Luther King's message. Civil rights leaders who accused the group of hijacking King's legacy held their own rally and march.

Of the first twelve paragraphs of the AP story, six were spent focusing on pro race-baiter Al Sharpton and his tiny 'protest'.

• The Washington Post, true to form, offers Al ("Kill the Jew") Sharpton roughly equivalent coverage with the major rally, though one attracted 2,500 and the other attracted 500,000... a million? Dana Milbank's prominent feature article covers the same, familiar ground as Bob Herbert's. In fact, I'm not sure why these legacy media columnists are all needed. Since their columns frequently echo one another, their salaries would appear to be utterly redundant:
...I was reminded of Beck's affection for deception as he hyped his march on Washington -- an event scheduled for the same date (Aug. 28) and on the same spot (the Lincoln Memorial) as Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic march 47 years ago. Beck claimed it was pure coincidence, but then he made every effort to appropriate the mantle of the great civil rights leader.

Beck as the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream? And you thought "War of the Worlds" was frightening....

...Beck has spoken on air about "radical black nationalism" in the White House and "Marxist black liberation theology" influencing Obama. He has further determined that the New Black Panthers have "ties to the White House in a myriad of ways" and are part of Obama's "army of thugs." ...

...To his followers, he says: "We are the people of the civil rights movement."

All that is left is for Beck to drive around town by ambulance.

• Politico believes that the crowd numbered less than 100,000, while the AP said it numbered in the "tens of thousands".
Holding her BlackBerry up with one hand, she lamented that The Associated Press had only pegged attendance as "tens of thousands."

Asked if there were more than 100,000 people there, Palin said: "Oh yeah."

Read the photos and weep, twits.

Here's a little cheat sheet for legacy media


These rallies focus on one fundamental concept: forcing government to honor our highest law, the United States Constitution -- the greatest framework for government ever created.

We don't give a damn about race, religion, creed, skin pigmentation or body odor (yes, I mean you, Ed Schultz), as evidenced by our rock solid support of patriots from every culture and walk of life.

We have the biggest tent of all: the freedom tent, in which government is controlled, not the individual.

You see, dimwit media, we believe in the rule of law. The Constitution. The Declaration. And you are its enemies. And very soon now you will become nothing more than a footnote to a footnote to a passing reference in an elementary school history book.


Update: Subliminal Deception.

Update II: JP writes:

Thanks for your post. I should no longer be appalled by anything the Baltimore Sun fails at... but I still am. Today's Sun had NO story and NO mention/blurb on Page 1 of yesterday's rally. On Page 2, they had about 1/2 page and used the "predominantly white crowd" phrase and "tens of thousands" attended, with a photo showing The National Mall overflowing, perhaps with as many as who attended MLK's speech and Marian Anderson's singing.

Then I noticed that they deliberately gave NO crowd numbers for the Rev. Al, and neglected to mention that it was a "predominantly black crowd". It was story written by a Sun reporter, but she apparently studied the AP article first.

The news is almost dead.

Hat tip: Memeorandum. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Kellogg School of Business: Prepare for War Between Taxpayers and Public Sector Unions Because State Pension Plans Are Only 35% Funded

Public sector union bosses and Democrat politicians have engaged in decades of incestuous deal-making. In doing so, they have led taxpayers to a crisis of epic proportions. So says the University of Chicago Northwestern's* Kellogg School of Business, not exactly a fount of right-wing propaganda.

Kellogg has published a study by two academics which outlines the scope of the public sector pension funding crisis (PDF). I can summarize it in one word: pain.

Using proper actuarial calculations, the study determined that states' defined-benefit pension plans are 65% underfunded. Not 65% funded (that would be bad enough)--but 65% underfunded. As of mid-2009, the plans held $1.8 trillion in assets and had $5.2 trillion in liabilities. Even dramatic plan reductions -- like excising cost-of-living-allowances (COLA) -- won't make significant dents in the plans' shortfalls.

Even under the most conservative measures, public pension liabilities are currently over $1 trillion larger than plan assets. Using discount rates that actually reflect the promise reveals shortfalls of $2.5 billion for accumulated benefits only and over $3 trillion for broader measures. This shortfall has to be borne by some party: taxpayers or public employees, be they past, current, or future.

In essence, then, the debate over the solution is over transfers. The current situation is one in which beneficiaries view their benefits as secure promises and taxpayers do not perceive that they will be held accountable for guaranteeing those promises.

In short, the stage is set for a war between taxpayers and public sector retirees.

Memo to the drones: the era of big government, socialist Ponzi schemes is drawing to a close. And the crash will be painful.

Oh, and be sure to thank ex-SEIU head Andy Stern and the other Democrat Socialists when you see them around town. Their insane, Utopian vision of central planning has failed us, just as it failed the Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, and every other damn place it's ever been tried.

Say, I've got an idea: since they've done such a great job with these pensions, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Post Office, Amtrak, and such, let's let the Democrats run the entire health care system!


Hat tip: The Foundry.
*Thanks to Jeff for the correct university.


I'm so confused by Eric Holder: waterboarding is torture, but broiling the skin of prisoners with a heat ray gun is just peachy

Famed bodybuilding guru Joe Weider used to have an exercise regimen called the Muscle Confusion Principle. His theory was that you could force your body to grow faster if you continually changed your workouts; by avoiding cyclical repetition, your body would be forced to adapt.

I'm thinking that Eric Holder borrowed the concept for his Department of 'Justice'. The Eric Holder Legal Confusion System™ appears to do the opposite of what you'd expect. Like pursuing Arizona for its enforcement of immigration law. Or dropping a slam-dunk voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party. Or attempting to try the 9/11 masterminds in civilian courts -- at Ground Zero. Et cetera.

If I told you that the Holder DOJ is funding a "heat beam ray", the application of which on prisoners many believe is "tantamount to torture", you'd dismiss it in a moment. After all, these are the same rocket scientists who believe waterboarding is torture (despite the fact that our own personnel are subjected to it in SERE School as a matter of course). But it's true -- Tampa Bay Online reports that Los Angeles will soon receive heat ray guns from the DOJ to use on prisoners.

A device designed to control unruly inmates by blasting them with a beam of intense energy that causes a burning sensation is drawing heat from civil rights groups who fear it could cause serious injury and is "tantamount to torture."

The mechanism, known as an "Assault Intervention Device," is a stripped-down version of a military gadget that sends highly focused beams of energy at people and makes them feel as though they are burning. The Los Angeles County sheriff's department plans to install the device by Labor Day, making it the first time in the world the technology has been deployed in such a capacity... The natural response when blasted - to leap out the way - would be helpful in bringing difficult inmates under control and quelling riots, the sheriff said.

..."The neat thing with this device is you experience pain but you are not injured by it," Osborne said. "It doesn't injure your skin, the beam doesn't have the power to do that."

...The device was made specifically for the sheriff's department by Raytheon Missile Systems. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said its $750,000 cost was paid for by a Department of Justice technology grant.

The ACLU claims (PDF):

While the device was being tested by the Air Force, a miscalibration of the device's power settings caused five airmen in its path to suffer lasting burns, including one whose injuries were so severe that he was airlifted to an off-base burn treatment center.

According to a 2008 report by physicist and less-lethal weapons expert Dr. Juergen Altmann, "the ADS provides the technical possibility to produce burns of second and third degree . . . over considerable parts of the body, up to 50% of its surface," and "without a technical device that reliably prevents re-triggering on the same target subject, the ADS has the potential to produce permanent injury or death."

I'm so confused.

Waterboarding is torture, but broiling the skin of prisoners is just peachy?

Could someone help me out here?

Oh -- and where's legacy media, breathlessly trumpeting thousands of news stories nationwide about Obama's imperialistic torture regime?


Hat tips: CBullitt and Bakersfield Now (image).

Larwyn's Linx: Gov. Daniels Describes Devastating Effects of ObamaCare

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

Gov. Daniels Describes Devastating Effects of ObamaCare: Foundry
Obama Memo to Pentagon: Of Course Troops Don't Need to Vote: Ace
It Worked: NRA Not Endorsing Harry Reid: RedState

Palin's Alaska: Pay Attention, Grassroots!: RWN
Stunning Revelations from Obama, the Lightworker: PJM
A Clarion Call to Ordinary Barbarians: It's Time to Fight: Con4Palin

Economy

Great News: ACORN Has Competition for 'Voter' Registration: GWP
'The Most Fiscally Irresponsible Government in U.S. History': USN&WR
Christie Fires Education Commission for Lying: LibertyPundits

Various and Sundry, Starting With Education: Pundette
The Ugliness of Government Dependence: PJM
Debt, Depression, Default. America is in Deep Trouble: AT

Climate & Energy

Obama's Brain Trust at the EPA: Hey, Let's Ban Lead Bullets!: Ace
Obama’s Green Agenda: Smoke and Lies: RWN
EPA says no to lead ammo ban, but...: WUWT

Media

Hurricane Katrina and the race card: 5 years later: Malkin
Racist Arm of MoveOn.org Cranks Up the Cranks: SondraK
More Proof: ObamaCare Leads to Rationing: Malkin

CNN Paints Hezbollah as More ‘Tolerant’ Than GZM Protesters: Driscoll
Brave, Brave Sir Carnahan... Boldly Ran Away: Nice Deb
The Last Refuge of a Liberal: Hammer

World

'A Call to Islam From the WTC Rubble': Winter Soldier
The Left's Unlikely Alliance with Islam: AT
One Muslim Nation’s Brave Support of Israel: PJM

Decades of poverty might not have spurred Cubans to revolution, but this might: RWN
Engagement with Castro Has Clearly Failed -- Time to Try an Embargo: AT
The Fatwa That Governs Muslim Soldiers Fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan: Winter Soldier

The Pentagon's Budget Is Not Bloated: AT
US Muslim soldier Zachari Klawonn appears in uniform on Al-Jazeera complaining of Islamophobia in US military: Jawa
Ladies Night With Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: GWP

SciTech

Heirloom Diseases: Grand Rants
How to Handle a Threatening Email: GoV
This Week in Search: Google

Cornucopia

The Minute Men Are Turning In Their Graves: Sad Hilll News
Screw Burning Man: This year's greatest desert festival is a three-day Mad Max reenactment!: Jalopnik
Prez Rides a Girl's Bike: Surber

Image: Me.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Out Joe Miller In Alaska!

QOTD: ”It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it.” -- Thomas Sowell


Friday, August 27, 2010

Stand Clear of Lie Detector Shrapnel: Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) Says Americans have "more confidence in Democrats than Republicans"

Is there a more bald-faced liar in America than Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)? Based upon this performance, I think not.

Van Hollen... accused Republicans of "already popping the champagne bottles" ahead of the November election and reiterated his confidence that Democrats would keep their majority in the House... "reports of the House Democrats' demise are greatly exaggerated... The energy level is rapidly rising on the Democratic side... Most of the activity in these campaigns will take place in the next nine and a half weeks."

...Van Hollen pushed back against [the Republican] narrative Friday in an appearance at the National Press Club, telling reporters it is "very clear that Democrats will retain their majority" in November... [he said] Republican candidates in key swing districts as "to the far right of the political spectrum," and predicted they would prove "not a good fit for our moderate swing districts."

"I'm not suggesting that the American people are bullish on either party," said Van Hollen. "What I am suggesting is that they have got more confidence in Democrats than Republicans."

Uhm, Chris: Democrats can blame Bush, Millard Fillmore, Kim Kardashian and Jersey Shore's Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, but everyone knows they've controlled Congress for four freaking years.

You're a laughingstock, Chris, but take heart: you're a historic laughingstock.


Car Bombs -- With Texas License Plates -- Detonating in Mexico; White House Reaction? More Open Borders!

Runner-up headline: How's that Obama-Holder open borders strategy working out?

Stratfor Research reports that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are becoming commonplace in Mexico (subscription required). Interestingly, CNN International also reported this story a few moments ago, but its mother network (CNN USA) is thus far mum.

At least two car bombs exploded Friday near the television studios of Televisa in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas state in northeastern Mexico, authorities said...

...The car that exploded in front of the television studio was a red Chevrolet Corsica with Texas license plates, the attorney general's office said in a news release. The car in front of the transit office was a white Mazda, also with Texas license plates...

Tamaulipas is the state where authorities discovered 72 bodies this week on a ranch believed to be used by narcotraffickers. Authorities are investigating whether the 58 men and 14 women, who were migrants from Central and South America, were killed by the Zetas cartel.

Car bombings are a relatively new phenomena in Mexico.

But, as Big Peace's Frank Gaffney reports, these kinds of attacks shouldn't come as a surprise.

...Mexican authorities arrested a senior operative of the Lebanese terrorist group, Hezbollah, named Jameel Nasr... [Mexico] "foil[ed] an attempt by Hezbollah to establish a network in South America."

...Iran’s most dangerous terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, is operating with impunity in Latin America. The capture of Nasr comes as the President tells Senator Jon Kyl that the border must remain insecure until he gets a deal from congressional opponents of an amnesty for the many millions of illegal aliens already in this country.

The Nasr arrest also was revealed at the very moment the Department of Justice announced that the federal government was going to sue to prevent Arizona from enforcing federal laws on immigration.

Of course, this makes President Obama's open-borders policy all the more... eh... exciting.

But we already knew that, didn't we?


Anyone know of a good outplacement service for Harry Reid?

Professor Jacobson is understandably concerned with outplacement services for soon-to-be-ex-Senator Harry Reid.

The latest Mason-Dixon Poll released by the Las Vegas Review-Journal shows Reid up 1 point, 45-44... [but] Reid still is only polling at 45%, an abysmal number this late in the game for a multi-term incumbent [and d]espite two months of pummelling Angle, Reid still has higher negative numbers...

...Reid is in trouble, and his team knows it.  Expect even more over-the-top attacks on Angle, but it will not help.  Reid is a fully known quantity, and people know they don't like him.  That will not change. 

...[Also,] the NRA will not be endorsing Reid, with Reid's support of Elena Kagan as one of the motivation factors.

I don't think Nevadan voters will be fooled by Reid's hyperbole. Since he and his liberal colleagues have taken control of the Senate, they have given us:

• Three straight years of job losses with an unemployment rate that has more than doubled to nearly 10%;

• A national debt that has ballooned to over $13 trillion, an astronomic increase of 60%;

• A $787 billion pork- and boondoggle-laden "stimulus" bill in 2009, which did no stimulating of the economy and has only prolonged economic recovery;

• Record high home foreclosures that the American taxpayer is on the hook for because of misguided economic policies;

• Another "jobs bill" that cost taxpayers $18 billion, yet created no "jobs";

• The $700 billion TARP bill to bailout banks that couldn't balance their books; and

• The 2,000+ page health care takeover bill, which leaves the American taxpayer on the hook for another $2.6 trillion to pay for this new "entitlement."

Stimulus. TARP. ObamaCare. These three words will be written into the political obituaries of politicians who voted for these programs – and should definitely be branded onto the political epitaph of Harry Reid.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin and Gates of Vienna. Thanks!

Sacrilege: The Obama-Holder 'Justice' Department Won't Pursue Trial of USS Cole Bomber, Plus: a Memo to Ace Regarding the NRSC

The Washington Post's Peter Finn reports that the Obama administration has decided not to prosecute the apparent terrorist mastermind behind the USS Cole bombing in 2000. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri had been accused of orchestrating the attack that killed 17 American sailors aboard the Cole ten years ago.

The decision at least temporarily scuttles what was supposed to be the signature trial of a major al-Qaeda figure under a reformed system of military commissions. And it comes practically on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the attack, which killed 17 sailors and wounded dozens when a boat packed with explosives ripped a hole in the side of the warship in the port of Aden.

In a filing this week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department said that "no charges are either pending or contemplated with respect to al-Nashiri in the near future."

..."It's politics at this point," said one military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss policy. He said he thinks the administration does not want to proceed against a high-value detainee without some prospect of civilian trials for other major figures at Guantanamo Bay...

...With the 10th anniversary of the Cole bombing approaching on Oct. 12, relatives of those killed in the attack expressed deep frustration with the delay... "After 10 years, it seems like nobody really cares," said Gloria Clodfelter, whose 21-year-old son, Kenneth, was killed on the Cole.

A Memo to Ace


Much as I enjoy the verbal stylings of Ace, he is dead wrong when he claims a "third party is the only way" because a particular funding arm of the Republican Party (in this case, the NRSC) went off the reservation.

Bull***.

If you want to defend the memories of those who served -- and protect those who serve today, you'll vote for every Republican you can in November.

A third party represents a fit of petulance that throws our warriors, our law enforcement personnel, our first responders, our children and our grandchildren to the wolves of Statism.

Who could advocate for such a thing, when the only tactic available to us is to overthrow the Beltway GOP? We've won some (Angle, Bennett, ...) and lost some (McCain), but we've battled hard to send more conservative Republicans to Washington.

A third party? Ace, have you been smoking crack?

Do you want Darrell Issa, bless his heart, to investigate the raw criminality that has infected the Democrat leadership? If not, vote for a third party.

Do you want to de-fund socialized medicine, the EPA, the Department of Education, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Labor, et. al.? If not, vote for a third party.

I don't give a crap what the NRSC did in the Alaskan primary.

They are clueless little Beltway hacks -- and we can dispense with them after we crush the people destroying our Republic.


Hat tips: Michelle Malkin, Jim Hoft and Free Republic (images).

Hilllary Clinton's State Department Unmasked: Separation of Church and State, but not Separation of Sharia and State

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." [U.S. Constitution: First Amendment]

In his farewell address to the nation, President George Washington noted the strong affinity of faith to the American republic, stating, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."

As evidenced in their writings and statements, the nation's founders believed inherently in the role of faith as the underpinning of a moral system of government. Government could only be moral if it recognized that human rights were granted by God, not man, and were therefore irrevocable by temporary politicians or potentates.

The Declaration of Independence proudly trumpeted the bond between God and the founding of the Republic, as the nation's fate hinged upon "...a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence."

And, for many older Americans, the Pledge of Allegiance -- "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" -- served as a daily affirmation of the role of faith in the nation's founding.

Judicial Activism and the 'Separation of Church and State'


Despite all evidence to the contrary, judicial activists have dismissed the founders' bedrock principles related to faith. To do so, they have invented the notion of 'Separation of Church and State' from whole cloth. The First Amendment was, of course, intended to prevent the establishment of a state religion -- like the Church of England. But it was never intended to remove the role of Judeo-Christian beliefs from the halls of government; the motto "In God We Trust" on our currency serves as the most tangible reminder of this fact.

Nevertheless, using the canard of church-state separation, judicial activists -- led by atheists and Statists -- have banned nativity scenes on public property, prohibited the display of the Ten Commandments, and removed crosses that memorialized fallen state troopers.

In other words, the very Judeo-Christian traditions upon which our founders relied have been capriciously excised from the public square. If given the chance, activist judges would likely censor the Declaration of Independence and rewrite American history to achieve their vision of a barren and secular society.

Which makes the State Department's recent activities so very bizarre.

The State Department's Curious Book on Being Muslim in America


An anonymous commenter points us to the Obama-Clinton State Department's bookshelf. Its "Diversity" section features a book entitled Being Muslim in America (PDF) which, "[i]llustrates in word and image that practicing the Muslim faith is fully compatible with being American, and that Muslim Americans are endowed by right with the same freedoms, privileges, and responsibilities as other Americans."

Did anyone ever say otherwise? What would be the reason for this publication?

The State Department has chosen precisely one religion for which it offers its support: Islam.

Try as I might, I could find no similar publications entitled:

• Being Buddhist in America
• Being Christian in America
• Being Hindu in America
• Being Jewish in America
• Being Sikh in America
• Being an Atheist in America

And yet, within weeks of Barack Obama taking office, the State Department had created a guide to being Muslim in America.

An Homage to Sharia Law and More Apologies for America


From its cover photograph featuring a (presumably) Sharia-compliant basketball uniform to its opening graph -- an apologia for America's imperfections -- the guide is as disturbing as it is un-American.

I love America not because I am under the illusion that it is perfect, but because it allows me — the child of Muslim immigrants from India — to participate in its progress, to carve a place in its promise, to play a role in its possibility.

In other words, America has a long way to go. Which is why so many people are trying to get here from the largely third-world hellholes their own failed governments have created.

Another photograph features a woman -- covered head-to-toe in Sharia-compliant garb -- walking behind her husband while shopping, as many Islamic countries require.

Furthermore, the State Department insists that Americans are irrational and intolerant people, especially when it comes to Muslims.

A new, truly American Islam is emerging, shaped by American freedoms, but also by the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Even as surveys by the Pew Research Center and others show that Muslim Americans are better educated and more prosperous than the average, the terrorist attacks — planned and executed by non-Americans — raised suspicions among other Americans whose immediate responses, racial profiling among them, triggered in turn a measure of Muslim-American alienation. Sadly, suspicions of this kind are not uncommon — in the United States or in other nations — during wartime or when outside attack is feared. But 2008 is not 2002, when fears and suspicions were at their height. Context is also important: Every significant immigrant group has in the United States faced, and overcome, a degree of discrimination and resentment.

Also featured in the book is Imam Khalid Latif, who serves on "the Board of Directors of CAIR-NY, where Latif’s sister is also a key player. CAIR, is the unindicted co-conspirator to the largest terror-financing conviction in U.S. history, and currently shunned by the FBI and both Democrats and Republicans alike for its connection to, and support of, Hamas."

Latif also strongly objected to NYU's publication of the Danish cartoons depicting Mohammed, to the point that the school caved into his demands. In this case, the First Amendment was dismissed so blatantly that the decision was roundly criticized by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education [FIRE], which asked NYU "to reverse course and stand up for freedom of speech."

Finally, Latif also sits on the board of the Muslim Consultative Network [MCN] which is reportedly run by Adem Carroll of the Islamic Circle of North America. ICNA is said to support a variety of terror groups including al-Qaeda, Hamas and Jamaat-e-Islamia.

The State Department's 'Guide': Balkanization and Intolerance


In its choice of wording, photographs and representatives, the State Department appears to implicitly support both Sharia and a subtle form of extremism.

After all, Sharia is a political system consisting of its own laws; and it is completely antithetical to the United States Constitution.

How is it that a Nativity Scene on a town square is somehow 'unconstitutional', but the State Department's affirmative endorsement of Balkanization and the intolerance of Sharia is somehow acceptable?

Where is the ACLU?

Where are the atheists?

Where are the liberal activists who complain endlessly about separation of church and state, at least when it concerns Christians and Jews?

These are rhetorical questions, of course, because the agenda -- while hidden from plain sight -- is obvious.


Hat tips: The Stafford Voice, Michelle Malkin and Anon.

Larwyn's Linx: Arizona's Appeal; Schumer's Attack on Free Speech

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

Arizona Files Appeal: Ace
Union Brothers and Sisters, Join Our Commonsense Cause!: Palin
Betrayal: AK GOP HQ Phone Banked For Murkowski?: Riehl

Schumer's attempt to silence political speech: BigGovt
The Right-Wing Hate Machine: Malkin
Hisham Elzanaty and the Ground Zero Mosque: iOTW

Economy

Obama jobs death toll watch: More health care layoffs: Malkin
California Rejects Even Modest Pension Reform: WashExam
Palin Responds to AFL-CIO Head Trumka: Con4Palin

Thanks to Obamanomics, You Too Can Be a Double Victim!: RWN
The fishermen’s flotilla: Showdown at Martha’s Vineyard: Malkin
Ireland's Vicious Circle Leaves Banks Facing Higher Debt: Bloomberg

Ask Unemployed How Stimulus Is Working: RCM
Initial mortgage delinquencies rising again: Hot Air
Illinois' first day of school pension blues: Marathon

Climate & Energy

The Folly of Punishing Oil Companies: Tapscott
Red Flag Warning EPA Ammunition Ban: NoisyRoom
Speaking of Lead: iOTW

Media

Obama’s Electioneers: Documentary to Reveal the Extent of 2008 Voter Fraud: PJM
A Relativist, Wrapped in a Muslim, Inside an Agnostic: AmSpec
Why Jews are Deserting Obama and the Democrats: AT

Investigating America: BigPeace
Heads Explode as Malkin Slams Progressives on Muslim Cabbie Attack: AmPower
Unhinged Ed Shultz threatens to burn down MSNBC studios! Then breaks down crying!: BlogProf

MFM Narrative: Success Of Conservatives Is A Sign Of Their Doom: Ace
CNN Readers Offer Up 10 Ideas For Obama And The GOP: RWN
Does 'Barely True' Mean True?: AT (Hoven)

World

Oh, the Mosque is at Ground Zero: BigPeace
Terror Cell Broken Up In Canada: Ace
Obama administration indicts America: Times

The Terror Imams and Their Mosques & Schools: Ledeen
President Obama's Compulsive Appeasement Disorder: AT
Top Ten things America has done for Muslims: AT

SciTech

Bad flash drive caused worst U.S. military breach: CNet
iPhone as Cash Register: CNBC
Sound familiar? DC police to use technology to predict who will commit murder in the future: BlogProf

Cornucopia

The ObamaBuck-U: A New Bill to Inspire Confident Recovery: AmDigest
Despondex: iOTW
Most Evil Tweet Ever: Daily Wh.at

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Joe Miller Needs a Little Help in Alaska


Thursday, August 26, 2010

Exclusive Photo: Limousine Liberal Encounters Problems With Ultra-Sticky, Axelrod-Quality Adhesive



E-Z to follow instructions: get out of any traffic violation without a ticket, points on your driver's license, or other legal hassles

Stopped for a traffic violation and don't want to get hit with an expensive ticket? Just follow these simple instructions:

1. When the police officer asks for your driver's license and registration, state: "No habla ingles."

2. As the police officer figures out how to react, recite the following sentence (preferably using a exaggerated accent): "I am an illegal alien to the United States."

3. Before the police officer can react to your second statement, close the deal with: "You are not allowed to ask for my papers. Eric Holder said so."

4. After the police officer shrugs, closes his traffic investigation pad and sends you on your way, put the car in D (not R, heh) and slowly drive away from the scene. Try not to unleash an evil cackle.

Note: If you are hassled at all, contact La Raza or some other separatist front group for the government of Mexico and figure out how to sue the city, town or county in question.

After all, according to the Obama administration and the Holder DOJ, no one has a right to ask you for your papers. And anyone who does so must be profiling.

By the way: if I were better at making money, I'd turn this into a 30-minute infomercial and charge four installments of $19.95 for all of this valuable information.


'Islamophobia' In Theaters Now


Via: Sad Hill News.

Perfect Timing: Construction Costs Set to Skyrocket in California as Democrat Eco-Nuts' New 'CALGreen' Standards Kick In

In the teeth of the most vicious housing downturn in decades, the liberal masterminds running California have decided to kill the state's economy once and for all. Their weapon: a massive new encyclopedia of "environmentally friendly" regulations called "CALGreen".

The bureaucrats inside California's massive state government just published a 90-Page Introduction to CALGreen (PDF), which makes for excellent bathroom reading. Among the interlocking agencies that must be satisfied in order to build: the State Department of Housing and Community Development, the Division of the State Architect, the California Building Standards Commission, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, CALBO (California Building Officials), local chapters of the International Code Council, the California Air Resources Board, and the California Building Industry Association. Each has a stake in the new regulations and will defend their turf until the state finally goes bankrupt once and for all.

Oh, and one other thing: construction costs are going to skyrocket for every type of building.

January 1st is coming - are you ready for the new CALGreen Building Code?


On January 1, 2011 the California Building Standards Commission will require compliance with the new CalGreen building code. CalGreen requires residential and commercial building department permit submittals to comply with a wide range of sustainability measures in planning, design, energy & water efficiency, materials and resources, commissioning and environmental air quality.

Better still, cities and countries are permitted to enact local ordinances with even more restrictive green building standards.

The new requirements are mandatory for for all new residential and nonresidential buildings (including buildings for retail, office, public schools and hospitals) throughout the state, starting on January 1, 2011.

The level of detail specified by CALGreen is shocking. The new laws regulate every aspect of construction, far beyond what you might have thought possible. Mandates stipulate how builders handle storm water pollution prevention, bicycle parking, changing rooms, the paint used for marking parking stalls, "light pollution", grading and paving, all water use (including "multiple showerheads serving one shower" and all plumbing fixtures), irrigation design standards, handling of construction waste material, handling of excavated soil, fireplace design and testing, indoor moisture control, CO2 monitoring systems (not carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, which humans exhale), all HVAC standards (including required "ozone depletion and greenhouse gas reductions") and everything in between... including the kitchen sink.

To monitor compliance, CALGreen requires that builders fill out worksheets (23 pages of forms and templates), pay for inspections, verify business partners' conformance, and a whole bunch of other fun tasks wholly unrelated to, uhm, construction.

The development of the CALGreen Code is intended to (1) cause a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from buildings; (2) promote environmentally responsible, cost-effective, healthier places to live and work; (3) reduce energy and water consumption; and (4) respond to the directives by the Governor. The reduction in greenhouse gases has been mandated in recent years by the Governor through executive orders and the passage of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Assembly Bill 32, Chapter 488 of the 2006 Statutes) adding Division 25.5 to the California Health and Safety Code. The provisions of AB 32 require a cap on greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, mandatory emissions reporting, and an ongoing market-based compliance program. Establishing the CALGreen Code is an important step towards more efficient and responsible building designs. The California Air Resources Board estimates that the mandatory provisions in this new code will reduce green house gases by 3 million metric tons by the year 2020.

As an aside, a single, large volcanic eruption can expel 120 million metric tons of sulfur dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

With a massive new set of regulations like these, California's liberals really are trying to kill the state.

Here's a thought: maybe they're called "green jobs" because California's economy is turning gangrenous.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Three Keys To Removing Pelosi From the Speakership

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

Three Keys To Removing Pelosi From the Speakership: Hewitt
News to Make Your Blood Boil: RWN
Democrats Opposing Obama and Pelosi: Betsy's Page

Stealth Jihad Behind Ground Zero Mosque: LATL
Ground Zero Imam Eyes Another Target: Cashill
Liberals Attack Holocaust Survivor: Surber

Economy

Obama's Beltway Chainsaw Massacre: Malkin
Why Small Businesses Aren’t Hiring: American
'For One County There Is No 'Race To The Top': JWF

UCLA Law Offers Most Depressing Job to Law Student: ATL
'Fair to see yet bound to die': Belmont
Cooking the Books on Job Claims: Times

Dem Senator: Trillions in Debt With Nothing to Show: BlogProf
SEC backs labor on corporate board votes: Times
Where Are Those New Jobs?: Stossel

Climate & Energy

EPA Finds a Way to Ban Guns: iOTW

Media

Apparently, MSM now stands for ‘Manufacturing Societal Dissent’: Driscoll
The Left’s Newfound Respect for Freedom of Religion: GWP
Police Piece Together Clues in Obama’s Post-Racial America: RWN

End of Combative Operations: Crittenden
Defending memory of 9/11 victims isn't 'un-American': Tapscott
Photo: Any Questions As To How Kagan Will Vote?: HAP

World

Equality Before the Law: Doc Zero
Sharia By Sleight of Hand: GoV
Don't Ask, Don't Tell at Ground Zero: AT

The Perfect Iranian Storm on the Horizon: Totten
Liberals Spend Your Money Promoting Islam Overseas: RWN
Soros Has a Pastor Close to Obama On His Payroll: AT

SciTech

US military's top secret X-37B shuttle 'disappears' for two weeks, changes orbit: News.com.au
Full Body Scan Vans Coming to a Neighborhood Near You?: Ace
Discovered beyond the sun: Solar system with seven planets: Daily Mail (UK)

Cornucopia

The Enquirer: Michelle Is Angry At Barack For Going On A 'Secret Date' With Oprah: RWN
Michelle Obama's Expanding Role: JWF
The Pursuit: iOTW

Images: Hot Air Pundit.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Support Allen West for Congress (West's new ad rocks)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Candid photo captures the haunting beauty of the federal postal service, which is only losing $1 billion a month

The United States Postal Service recently announced that it lost more than $3.5 billion in one quarter. Competition from email, UPS and FedEx -- along with outrageous costs associated with union benefits -- were the major culprits.

A recent photo captured the efficiency of the federal bureaucracy as it relates to its "management" of the postal service:

Is that a Corona someone squirreled away in the mailbox?

But don't worry, rubes: even though the feds can't seem to manage mail delivery, rest assured they can orchestrate the entire health care system. After all, it's only one-sixth of the whole frickin' economy.

True, Democrats may be incompetent... but you've got to give them this: they're exciting!


Via: FailBlog and Instapundit.

Whoa: Illinois Public Sector Retirement System About To Say Bye-Bye

The death knell just sounded for the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System (TRS), though to read the funny papers you'd never know it. Bloomberg (the news service, not the idiot mayor) reports the TRS just sold its assets to raise the cash it needs to pay retiree benefits. Executive Summary: Kerplosion.

Illinois’s Teachers Retirement System may sell $3 billion of investments to pay for benefits this year because the state can’t make its contributions to the fund, a spokesman said...

The pension plan sold $200 million of assets in July and $290 million in August, Dave Urbanek, spokesman for the $33 billion fund, said in a phone interview... “We understand from the comptroller that there is no money to pay us,” said Urbanek. “If we don’t get a state contribution, we will have to sell more.”

The fund was forced to sell assets last year, too, as it awaited a state contribution. That payment came after Illinois issued $3.47 billion of taxable bonds to fund its pension contribution in January.

In other words, last year Illinois had to borrow money to pay the TRS. This year, apparently unable to muster support for more suicidal borrowing, TRS decided to liquidate around 10% of its assets.

Look up unsustainable in the dictionary and you'll see this logo.

Of course, state law prevents any changes to existing retirement benefits, so the state is caught between a rock and, eh, another rock. Like that giant trash compactor in Star Wars, when George Lucas was still sane.

Leave it to Tyler Durden to describe the unvarnished reality of this debacle.

Two few months ago we disclosed how the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) was doing all it can to become the next AIG. In addition to, or maybe precisely due to, its deplorable fundamental condition, which can be summarized as being 61% underfunded on its $33.7 billion in assets... [now] the Fund is currently getting annihilated on its [Treasury] curve exposure...

...the fund has basically thrown in the towel and is proceeding with liquidations. The problem there is that due to its derivative exposure, liquidations now become self-reinforcing, as more cash needs to be pledged as collateral in a declining market, and the AIG death spiral we all know and love, follows.

...as the market continues selling off, the derivatives will require that more assets are sold, which will push the market further lower, which will demand further margin calls, and so forth ad Chapter 7.

As Durden concludes, it is simply too late for TRS -- and scores of other pension funds like it -- to recover.

Because it has begun liquidation, "extend and pretend" (i.e., kicking the can down the road) is no longer an option.

...For the sake of the 355,000 full-time, part-time and substitute public school teachers and administrators working outside the city of Chicago, we hope that the TRS has now been inducted into the hall of the Too Big To Fail, as otherwise roughly $34 billion in (underfunded) pensions are about to disappear.

So unless Congress launches (yet another) suicide mission related to funding Blue State failures with Red State revenues, Illinois' ex-teachers are in for a nasty retirement.

What do you say, Red States? Do you enjoy paying for the failures of Illinois, California and New York? If not, vote against every Democrat you can find in November. The alternative is more cronyism, more economic failure, and more misery.

Public sector unions and their cronies in the Democrat Party must be politically dismantled -- or it's all going to melt down -- in ways we can't possibly predict (PDF).


Oh, for Thomas Friedman to be in China for a day

Remember when The New York Times' token intellectual wanted the U.S. "to be China for a day [to] authorize the right solutions?"

A 60-mile traffic jam near the Chinese capital could last until mid-September, officials say... Traffic has been snarled along the outskirts of Beijing and is stretching toward the border of Inner Mongolia ever since roadwork on the Beijing-Tibet Highway started Aug. 13. The following week, parts of a major road circling Beijing were closed, further tightening overburdened roadways.

...Though triggered by construction, the root cause for the congestion is chronic overcrowding on key national arteries.

Gee, Tommy, isn't central planning kewl?

If we could only hand over the keys to our government to a bunch of Statist masterminds for a while, things we be soooooo much better. Like in China.

Oh -- you mean we did that in the 2008 elections? Oops.


Idea: Larwyn.

Andrew Sullivan's Worst Nightmare

Dan from New York:

Palin Rebounds With String of Republican Primary Victories


Scares the hell out of you, doesn't it Andy?

Wait. Just. A. Second.

Does someone look like she's showing?